Mayor Madness: Record 10 candidates to run

A tenth candidate joined the race for mayor of Amarillo today, and two more candidates filed to run for the Place 3 Amarillo City Commission seat being vacated by Commissioner Ron Boyd.

Drew Alexander, 69, will compete for the mayor’s post in the May 14 election.

Alexander listed his occupation as self-employed on his application for candidacy, filed today at Amarillo City Hall.

Alexander has interests in a variety of businesses including the Buffalo's Southwest Grill and Bar in Canyon. He also was a principle behind now-idle efforts to develop a horse-racing track west of Amarillo near Arnot Road.

Irma R. Heras, 65, and John Ingerson, 51, filed paperwork to join a Place 3 Commission race that already includes Lilia Escajeda, 67.

Heras and her husband, Eloy, co-own Laser Cartridge Recyclers. The couple participate in the Amarillo Citizens for Property Rights political action committee, that mounted petition drives forcing the City Commission to add three referendums on issues to the May ballot.

The referendum issues ask voters to determine whether:

* single-member districts voting should be implemented in Amarillo. Implementing the system would mean that voters citywide would no longer choose all four commissioners. Instead, each commissioner would represent a geographic area of the city and voters from that area would choose their representative from among candidates who live in the district.

* urban design zoning standards governing properties in downtown Amarillo should be repealed, or stricken off the city’s law books.

* an ordinance restricting the size and placement of on-premises business signs should be repealed.

Ingerson, whose career has been in sales, most recently was employed in air-conditioning and refrigeration work but now is on disability. He has, at recent meetings, taken the mayor and City Commission to task for unwise spending in the current economy, among other issues.

Escajeda, a retired banker, jumped into the Place 3 Commission race early in the filing period, which ends at 5 p.m. today.